Today's KCM Blog Post: "Hope is No Longer a Good Strategy"
There is no one that wants the housing market to recover more than I do. Over 50% of my investment portfolio is comprised of real estate. My job is to teach real estate professionals what is happening in the market and why it is happening. It would be a lot more fun if I could tell them the housing market is about to come roaring back. I would be lying if I did.
All indications are that the real estate market will remain soft for some time to come. It will be better for everyone if we accept that fact and move on with our housing plans accordingly. Over the last week, there were three major reports released that prove that many people are still unclear as to the severity of the market:
SALES
Each month the National Association of Realtors (NAR) puts out their Pending Sales Report which measures the number of existing homes that went into contract the previous month. Based on the expiration of the Home Buyer Tax Credit, everyone expected the June report would show a substantial decrease in contracts.
Bloomberg News surveys economists each month prior to the release of the report to establish what the economists assume NAR will say. For the June report the economists predicted it would show a 14% decrease.
The actually number was a decrease of 30% - over twice what the economists had predicted!
